1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wire holder supporting a wire between a lamp and an inverter and a liquid crystal display (LCD) device having the same, and more particularly, to a wire holder and an LCD device having the same, in which a wire is stably supported to minimize short of the wire according to motion of the LCD device and interference between the wire and an optical sheet.
2. Description of the Background Art
LCDs have become more widespread, replacing conventional cathode ray tubes (CRT) because of their advantages of thin size and light weight. The LCD device is a flat display device that displays images by controlling light transmittance to correspond to image signals. The LCD device includes an LCD panel comprised of a thin film transistor substrate, a color filter substrate, and a liquid crystal layer disposed between the two substrates. Since the LCD panel is not a light-emitting device, a back light unit is disposed at the rear of the LCD panel to supply light to a rear surface of the LCD panel.
The LCD device is divided into a direct type and an edge type depending on a position of the back light unit. The direct type LCD device includes a lamp serving as a light source, disposed on the rear surface of the LCD panel, while the edge type LCD device includes a light guide plate disposed on the rear surface of the LCD panel and a light source disposed at one side of the light guide plate. In the direct type LCD device, since a plurality of light sources are uniformly arranged at the rear of the LCD panel, improved luminance can be obtained over the edge type LCD device. However, the direct type LCD device has drawbacks in that it consumes a lot of power and is not suitable for a thin size. Meanwhile, since the edge type LCD device converts the light emitted from the light sources into plane light using the light guide plate and then supplies the plane light to the rear surface of the LCD panel, it has relatively low luminance but can reduce power consumption and is suitable for a thin size. Accordingly, the edge type LCD device is adapted for most of portable display devices, such as notebook PC, personal digital assistant (PDA) and navigator, which require a light weight and low power consumption.
A general edge type LCD device for a navigator will be described by way of example. FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view illustrating a structure of a general LCD device. Referring to FIG. 1, a reflection plate 22 is attached onto a bottom cover 20 to reflect light emitted from a light source to an LCD panel 40. A light guide plate 24 is disposed on the reflection plate 22, and a lamp 26 which is the light source is arranged at one side of the light guide plate 24. In this structure, the light emitted from the lamp 26 enters the side of the light guide plate 24 and then is emitted to the front surface of the light guide plate 24.
Optical sheets 28 are arranged on the light guide plate 24. The optical sheets 28 improve efficiency of the light emitted from the reflection plate 22 and the light guide plate 24 and irradiate the light to the rear surface of the LCD panel 40. The optical sheets 28 include a diffusion sheet, a prism sheet, and a protective sheet.
A panel guide 30 is disposed above the optical sheets 28. The panel guide 30 includes a support frame supporting the edge of the LCD panel 40, and a frame sidewall downwardly extended from the support frame. The frame sidewall is provided with a fitting means, such as a hook, which fits the bottom cover 20 to a top cover 50. The optical sheets 28, the lamp 26, the light guide plate 24 and the reflection plate 22 are stably supported as the bottom cover 20 and the panel guide 30 are fixed to each other.
The LCD panel 40 is arranged on the panel guide 30 to display images. The top cover 50 is arranged on the LCD panel 40 and is provided with a display window that exposes an effective surface of the LCD panel 40, wherein images are formed in the effective surface. The top cover 50 is fixed to the frame sidewall of the panel guide 30. To irradiate the light to the rear of the LCD panel 40 which is not a light-emitting device, the lamp 26 should be connected to an inverter (not shown) arranged on the rear surface of the bottom cover 20 and thus should be supplied with a power source.
The lamp 26 is connected with the inverter through a wire 26a. A wire lead-out line is conventionally provided at one edge of the bottom cover 20, as shown in FIG. 2, to facilitate connection between the lamp 26 and the inverter. The wire lead-out line is provided with a groove or a hole for leading out the wire 26a, wherein the groove or the hole is formed at one edge of the bottom cover 20. The wire holder 25 is inserted into the groove or the hole to prevent disconnection of the wire 26a and short circuiting due to the disconnection from being generated.
However, the wire lead-out line, as shown in FIG. 2, has a structure where the wire holder 25 is simply inserted into the groove or the hole of the bottom cover 20 to cover the groove or the hole so that the wire 26a is naturally lead out to the hole or the groove. Accordingly, if the LCD device moves, the wire 26a also moves, causing contact or friction between the wire 26a and the optical sheets 28 adjacent to the wire 26a. For this reason, the optical sheets 28 may be wrinkled. This may cause uneven luminance and deteriorate luminance. Also, a problem occurs in that light may leak to the wire lead-out line for insertion and lead-out of the wire.